Charity efforts help to boost Welsh pork

Following on from a social media campaign, a charity triathlon is getting a helping hand from Porc.Wales.

Ceri Phillips of Conwy won a social media campaign earlier this month as part of Porc.Wales’ ‘Porximity’ campaign, designed to encourage people to buy pork from Wales at local suppliers.

The ‘Hog It!’ competition asked members of the public to enter the location of an upcoming event they were hosting on the new Porximity search function on the Porc.Wales’ website and to tweet their local pork from Wales supplier @Porc_Wales and using the hashtag #HogIt.

After involving her local supplier Moch Cymreig Fedwen, Phillips won the competition.

The art associate will use her prize – a hog roast – at a charity event in aid of Welsh Friends of Nepal, a charity she and Ian Roberts from Llanrwst set up after the Nepal earthquake last year.

Phillips’ friend Rob Boyns from Ruthin will be competing in his fourth Ironman challenge to raise money in aid of the charity. To celebrate and congratulate this achievement, an event with a mini triathlon will be held, complete with the hog roast to feed the guests.

“I’m delighted to win the competition, pork is my favourite meat, especially if reared in Wales,” said Ceri Phillips.

“But most of all it’s great to have these sorts of campaigns to help promote local produce and Welsh meat. It’s so important to source local produce from local suppliers; you know exactly what journey that food has taken to get to your plate, and it supports the local economy and farmers.

“The quality of local produce in Wales is very high and that needs to be celebrated and promoted.”

Melanie Cargill from Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales, the levy body behind the Porc.Wales campaign, said she was pleased to hear the competition prize was being used for a worthy cause. “It sounds as though Ceri’s guests will be working up an appetite in the mini triathlon, so we do hope they enjoy the delights of eating pork from Wales, reared in an outstanding environment.”